Integrity Academy

Friends

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:39:00 PST

My friends are great. My K'nex, photography, cooking and web design classes are great and I'm lucky to have friends. I do not have many in my neighborhood. I have two friends here but a lot of friends at co-op.

I'm a little person so I really don't like to get out much really I like to stay inside most of the time. My mom takes me everywhere though.

I have two brothers. I like games. They like food & games. So thanks for visiting. Bye.

Gevan C.

Speed Of Light

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:32:00 PST

I like to take pictures and I'm happy that I'm taking photography class at co-op. Mrs. Tracy teaches me a lot about taking good pictures.

I'm doing an assignment for writing. Me and my mom are writing a book called: The Way I See It. I think it's awesome and I'm doing the pictures and my mom is writing the book from my point of view.

Thanks for looking. Leave me a comment about my picture.

Gevan

Curriculum Swap and 2009 Reading List

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:40:00 PST

So we decided to do a curriculum swap this year (our year goes from January to December each year). Yes, I've hung up Konos and some of our other previous favorites and opted for my new love: Sonlight.

After hearing the founder, Sarita Holtzman speak at the Heart of the Matter Online Conference last year, I just could not shake my desire to go in that direction. The only thing that concerned me was the price but I got blessed and was able to purchase a near complete set from another mom at homeschool co-op for less than half the price of the new core. I simply bought the consumables and math from Sonlight and we were ready to go!

Gevan and Jacob will both be using Core 5, Eastern Hemisphere. Here is their reading list for 2009:

Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Master Puppeteer
The House of Sixty Fathers
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
The Horse and His Boy
Journey to Jo'burg
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons
The Land I Lost
All the Small Poems
Daughter of the Mountains
Shadow Spinner
David Livingstone: Africa's Trailblazer
Eric Liddell
Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun
Torches of Joy
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?
Teresa of Calcutta
Gandhi
A Glorious Age in Africa
The Mongols
India: The Culture
India: The People
100 Gateway Cities
Arabs in the Golden Age
William Carey: Obliged to Go
Mary Slessor: Forward into Calabar
Genghis Khan & the Mongol Horde
Ancient China Treasure Chest
Water Sky
Henry Reed, Inc.
Call it Courage
The Kite Fighters
The Big Wave
The Cat Who Went to Heaven
God's Adventurer: Hudson Taylor
Silkworms
Just So Stories
The Incredible Journey
Rascal
Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum
Star of Light
Homesick
King of the Wind
Aladdin and Other Favorite Arabian Nights Stories
Around the World in Eighty Days
Ali and the Golden Eagle
Li Lun, Lad of Courage
Mission to Cathay
Red Sand, Blue Sky
Louis Braille
Born in the Year of Courage
The Rat Catcher's Son
Sadako And The Thousand Paper Cranes
Fun with Easy Origami

The boys aren't exactly "excited" about all of the reading they will be doing but I think once they get into the stories they will be fine. I hope.

Great Homeschooling Tools

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:57:00 PDT

One of the best homeschooling tools we have is board games. The kids love to play them and they reinforce without the constant drilling that my kids have grown accustomed to. :)

I never have to beg them to play and the only problem I have is that Dad and I get tired of the same games. So... I need your help!

What are your favorite educational board games? Please share!

A Lesson In Hurricanes

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:10:00 PDT

I know it has been a while since we posted. The hurricanes caused quite a bit of delay in our lessons and we have been playing catch up ever since. Here is how we handled the situation.

Once the news started reporting that Hurricane Gustav was heading our way we decided to take the opportunity to learn some lessons about extreme weather. We used our God's Design for Heaven & Earth Our Weather and Water text as the foundation for our hurricane study and we used experience to be sure we mastered the information.

I used our Hurricane Tracking cork board to let the boys track the path of the hurricanes and we kept a close eye on the news and discussed things as they happened. We made videos during the storm and the boys journaled about what they witnessed.

After the storm had passed we surveyed the destruction and went right to work with helping neighbors and family clean up and find food & water. The lessons they learned weren't necessarily book knowledge but wisdom. They learned that life changes and we have to roll with it and make the best of it. During the storm our electricity went out so we lost all of the food in our freezer and refrigerator. We cooked all of what we could and ate it the first two nights before it went bad and on the third day we just ate the dry goods we had. Then the ants came in. We ended up losing all of our food. ALL of it.

We went to a disaster relief location and got some MRE (meals ready to eat) from the National Guard. My brother is a sergeant in the National Guard and was actually deployed to another city during the aftermath. Anyways, we opened up the MREs and the boys were shocked. They loved all the goodies inside and there was enough in there to feed them for a day! Each one has a different snack but you have to open it up to find out what it is so this was like a treasure hunt. Kind of like Cracker Jacks when I was a kid.

Overall much good and many lessons came from Gustav and Ike. I'm glad that I was able to share this experience with my boys. What life lessons have your kids been taught?

Real On the Job Training

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:28:00 PDT

My multi-talented husband is a computer/game system repair person aside from his day job and well, Gevan just loves to sit and watch dad tinker with the electronics. He finally asked dad the question we had been waiting for,"Dad, can you teach me how to fix this one?"

*all smiles*

Of course dad didn't mind and Gevan was quite successful at his first attempt. He got this one working on the first try thanks to the great lessons he received. Afterwards he asked the question we weren't waiting to hear, "So... how much do I get paid?"

Way to go, Gevan!

Learning Problems?

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:54:00 PDT

Gevan has been working hard with his literature guide for Sentinel, City of Destiny and doing very well. In fact, he is doing so well that I have questioned his learning disabilities.

I don't dispute that he is blind in one eye. I've seen the scarring on his retina and I watched him being tested and saw him struggling with the vision tests but he has greatly improved since last year. He is reading much better than he was even six months ago. Either the therapy has worked wonders or he has learned to cope really well with one eye.

What do you think?

2008 Olympics Lapbook & Unit Study

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:00:00 PDT

Who doesn't have Olympics fever especially with the outcome of events by Michael Phelps and the American gymnasts? I mean, wow. That's all I can say. Wow!

However, the Americans aren't the only ones that have made us smile. I have to add that Shelly Ann Fraser of Jamaica rocked it last night in the Women's 100 meter race and Huo Liang and Lin Yue, the Chinese synchronized dive team, won gold and I don't think I've ever been so impressed with divers. They were good.

My boys are just as fascinated with the Olympics as we are so we decided to incorporate it into our studies. Why wouldn't we? It includes history, geography, literature, science, math, art, and physical education! Now, I bought the project pak from Hands of a Child: Olympics Beijing 2008 but you can also get a great free one from Homeschool Share.

We spent a few days studying, reading about, and watching the Olympics then we began constructing our lapbook.

I always assign different tasks to the boys so that we can complete it in a timely fashion and everyone gets to participate. Gevan primarily took care of mapping out the countries that have hosted the Olympics, finding answers to the questions, and defining words. Jacob did all of the artwork, brochure, and writing and Brennan made sure we were all entertained during the process! :)

We learned all about: the International Olympic Committee; that the Olympics originated in Greece and women could not participate; all the countries that have hosted the Olympics; what each of the colored rings in the Olympics symbol stands for; what is on an Olympic medal; the differences and similarities between the ancient Olympics and the Olympics today; the sports categories that are included in the Olympics and more!

We reviewed all of the material when dad got home (the boys love to show dad what they've learned each day) and we even decided to host our own pentathlon at home!

On Saturday, after the Servolution at church, we had Chinese food in honor of Beijing hosting the Olympics. The boys learned to eat with chop sticks and really liked the food even though it was different from what they are used to.

Once we got home the 2008 Bayliss-Conway Olympics began. We had a bike race, a track race (barefoot and on the street), wrestling, and then we did boxing and tennis on the Wii! They all received gold medals for their participation and even have a new found interest in athletics.

On Saturday night we also called the boys into the living room, out of the bed mind you, to watch the American men's relay swim team, Lezak, Hanson, and Peirsol, help Michael Phelps make history and receive his 8th gold medal. It was an awesome moment for us as a family and I'm sure we will always remember it.

Here are the final photos of our lapbook:

We will finish on today by filling out the notebooking pages with each of the boys' favorite memories from the study.

Here are the notebooking pages we made: Olympics 2008 Notebooking Pages

Images available on the official Olympics Website.

Favorite Curriculum or Books

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:06:00 PDT

The Heart of the Matter Online meme for this Friday is:

...share with us your Favorite Curriculum or Books! With the new school year beginning it would be wonderful to hear why your curriculum works for you, new ideas you're looking forward to trying, or really great book ideas you would love to share.

I knew right away what I would post as my favorite. Jeannie Fulbright's Apologia "Exploring Creation With.." series and Robin Sampson's What Your Child Needs To Know When.

I have found What Your Child Needs To Know When to be an invaluable resource to our homeschool. Not only does it provide government educational standards but it also provides biblical standards for your child's spiritual development as well. On a daily basis, I use the bible reading schedule and the character traits list. This book, above all else, is a must have for the homeschool family.

Jeannie Fulbright has made me one happy mom. You see, I am the mother of three little science geeks (term of endearment, folks) and we refer to these books quite often. I have every one she has written and PRAY that she writes more for the series. These are the most amazing books for science because they are full of facts but yet, they read like a story book. They are not dull and lifeless. They are life giving! We have used them since the conception of our homeschool and will undoubtedly use them for the duration.

Amazon.com Widgets

One With Nature

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:28:00 PDT

"Let them once get in touch with nature and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight and habit through life."
Charlotte Mason

Spelling for Fun!

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:41:00 PDT

Yes, it is actually possible. My boys love the idea of a spelling bee and I love exposing them to new words so here is what I do:

print out age appropriate word lists for each child
give them each a different color dry erase marker
have them take turns at the board and I call out a word from their list to each one
they write it on the board and if they get it right then they move on
if they get it wrong then they have one chance to fix it and if they do then they move on
if they don't get it right then that child gets one mark by his name (three marks and you are out)
MOST of the time we can go through 50 words without anyone getting marked out and on those days everyone gets the prize (lick the bowl when we make desert, an extra cup of juice, get out of one chore, sit in the front seat, etc)

They love their "spelling bee" and it makes their every day spelling lessons (Sequential Spelling) more bearable because they know that they will be learning new words that will help them win the "bee" in the future! It also give me the opportunity to increase their vocabulary because they often ask me what a particular word means.

... and did I mention that they thought of this all by themselves?

Why Use Lapbooks?

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:12:00 PDT

I pondered this question myself many times before we dove in and made our first lapbook. My biggest argument to defend my position against these die-hard, lapbookin', homeschooling mamas was that I had boys and boys just don't do stuff like that.

Yeah, yeah. Now I know how silly that is.

I was always excited to announce to everyone that we were a delight-directed homeschool and that I just loved it when my boys initiated learning experiences so imagine my shock and horror the day I realized my boys might enjoy lapbooking. It was a bright sun shiney day....

Ha! Just kiddin'!

Visit Heart of the Matter Online to read the rest of this post....

First Day of the New School Year!

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:31:00 PDT

We had a great beginning!

There wasn't much whining or complaining and Brennan not only completed an entire worksheet but he completed 8! Yes, one - two - three - four - five - six - seven - EIGHT worksheets in math and he got them right! We switched him to Singapore math because it came highly recommended for advanced learners. Currently, Brennan is advanced but from what I have read that could possibly change as he gets older. In any case, taking a couple months off during the summer is definitely worth it in my opinion. Of course, we did do lapbooks and such over the summer so we didn't really take the summer off but we had no formal lessons.

Jacob and Gevan did well in math too. I was so happy when we reached Saxon 5/4 because we were able to get the DIVE cd to go with it. Gevan also does Saxon 5/4 because he got behind in math due to his learning disabilities. I don't want to move him forward until he has mastered these foundations. He had an "a-ha" moment during lesson one when the instructor explained the "n" in 3+n=6. He said, "MOM! MOM! I understand the "n" now! I know it! It is the missing number!!!"

Yes, my love it is. We spent three days trying to explain this to you last year. :(

At first I sort of got a bit down about it because I thought I did not do a good enough job last year trying to explain this to him but then God brought back to my remembrance that Gevan has gone through therapy for a couple months now for his learning disabilities and boys sometimes just don't get it until later. The instructor did not use any fancy way of explaining it, in fact, he explained it the same way I had. Gevan simply wasn't prepared to understand last year but thank you, Jesus that he understands it now!

Reading is something that we take very seriously in our home. I am a big reader and I know that if you can read well then you are opened up to a world of opportunities and adventures. Gevan is a stable reader but not proficient quite yet. I have been working with him and see a good bit of improvement but I am definitely praying for more.

One thing that helped greatly was to give him the choice of literature that he wants to read. I reviewed a book several months back called, Sentinel, City of Destiny by Landel Bilbrey and Gevan read a good bit of it and loved it! He wanted to read it and I wasn't going to stop him. I began creating a literary guide to go with it and that has only enhanced the experience he is having with this learning adventure. The literary guide is simple to use and is meant to be used as a supplement to the reading of the book and not as a strict curriculum and I think that is what makes the difference. I also love that this book is biblically based and interactive with the child.

I have not yet completed it yet, I am only to chapter six, but I am making the download available to you and as I update it I will let you know. The kit comes with the chapter guides, map, lesson planner, bookmark, and notebooking pages.

Sentinel, City of Destiny Literary Guide Kit

Blessing for Back-To-School

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:18:00 PDT

This morning in our church, our pastors and congregation called up every student, pre-school to college, and every teacher, homeschool teachers to professors, to pray a blessing over them. I am so blessed that homeschooling is so well received at our church and by the congregation. It makes things so much better for us.

The also presented everyone with a ruler that says, "Change Your World" and the message was one of hope for those of us who think our "world" is too big, too small, or just too complicated to make any difference. The truth is we can change the world by just serving one person.... just one. Those are words to live by.

Co-Op

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:27:00 PDT

Today was orientation day for our local Co-Op. This is our very first year in this Co-Op and I am really looking forward to it. I was H-A-P-P-Y to see a table full of goodies that were only $1 each! I picked up a Spotlight on Science kit for Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Tsunamis, a Rocks and Minerals Kit, and three posters for $5! My sister made a score at the used curriculum table by finding a Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons book for $10.

All three of the boys will be taking the Contenders of the Faith class this year. Gevan and Jacob will be taking History (Story of the World book 4), and Art 8-11 together. Separately, Gevan will be in a K'nex Bridges class and Jacob will be in a Book Club during the first period. Brennan will be taking Cooking 1 (oh, help me!), Geography, and Science (Apologia Zoology 2). They are really excited about starting and their nanny already bought them each a bookbag and embroidered their names on them. I printed out their schedules with a map of the class locations and then laminated it to be attached to their bookbags. Yes, I know that I am a spaz. :)

I have the honor of helping in the computer applications class and the art class for 6-7 year olds. Now if I could just stop breaking my own computer then maybe I can accomplish something. The bright side is that I can teach them what NOT to do!

All in all we are excited about the upcoming year!

Natural Learning

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:59:00 PDT

I am often asked the question, "How do you teach history, geography, and science if you don't "schedule" it?

The answer is that I use my children's interest to create a natural environment for learning. For example, tonight the 2008 Olympics opening show was on television and as we watched the teams from different countries parade by the boys started questioning, "Mom. Where is Malaysia?" (ma-lay-see-uh to my seven year old) So I ran to the homeschool closet and grabbed our 3-D Map and our Usborne Peoples of the World book and brought it into the living room. As the people walked by and the names of their countries were revealed, the boys looked up the country on the map and I rattled off a few facts about those people. During the commercials, I asked a few narration questions to see what they had learned and to reinforce the information.

We will continue this practice as we watch the Olympic events and the subject matter was so well received that we will do a lapbook on it starting Monday. This is natural learning as we enjoy it. Homeschooling is a way of life for us. We incorporate it into everything! :)

Our Curriculum for 2008

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:45:00 PDT

I have been preparing my lesson plans for the up and coming school year. I have purchased our texts and supplement materials and have raided our homeschool closet to think up rewarding projects to go along with the texts. It is always exciting to me to begin this process. I love the anticipation of finding out what parts of the studies will spark their interest the most, what they the most fun projects will be, and how much I will learn from teaching them.

My style of planning has changed from year to year...sometimes even during the year! Circumstances and knowledge seem to edge me toward a new, and more simplified way of doing things. I love the freedom of not having to stick to one thing for the entire year if it isn't working for us.

I use a very eclectic approach when educating my boys. I don't believe any style is completely wrong or better than the other when you consider all of the personalities involved; mom's, each child's. You must apply and use what works best for your those in your home.... as long as the child is learning and growing.

For me, each of my boys has a different learning style so I teach each of them accordingly. While I do use textbooks for math, spelling, english, etc., I allow them to lead the way as to what they would like to learn for history, science, social studies, geography, etc. For example, while teaching if I notice a "spark" then I will focus more on that subject with that child. I might construct a unit study and lapbook, watch a video, read more books, and the like, just to feed this interest. I allow my homeschool to be child-lead while providing some type of structure. I am a firm believer that children need to have the security of a structured home and learning environment but also have the freedom to explore. This will benefit them in college and when they join the workforce. But again, we are all different!

The texts we use are listed at the end of the post. We do these subjects four days a week and attend co-op on one day. We also do electives everyday such as learning Latin, health and safety, music, and art. These are done with no formal type schooling. They are simply incorporated into a lesson or throughout the day in some way to make it fun. Also, we use lots of board games that help with learning. Our semi-structured learning time only last from 9:00 to 12:00 am. The rest is fun & games and life learning skills.

I do not "test" them in the sense that they receive a grade for what they have learned. I simply don't move on until they have mastered the subject matter at hand. If they do well they do earn praise for it but if they get anything wrong I don't use a negative approach by marking it wrong or grading them for it. I simply circle it and give them the opportunity to correct it, then they receive praise for the correct answer and we work on it a bit more until I feel as though they have mastered and/or absorbed the information.

We also use lapbooking, notebooking, nature studies, field trips, and literature. The boys love these things and don't even consider them part of learning because they like it so much! I know they are learning but to them it is just fun! While I scrapbook they are usually right beside me doing a lapbook of what they learned or if I am writing they are usually notebooking. At night we also like to go and look at the stars and try to find the constellations and nearby planets. We also enjoy taking nature walks... when it isn't raining!

I do keep a list of the required learning skills by age (What Your Child Needs to Know When by Robin Sampson) just to be sure I have not forgotten to teach them something. I do not in any way let the goverment list dictate my children's education. I just use it as a guide for my benefit. I also find it beneficial for when I have to report the boys progress for the year to the school board. Yes, I am required by law to verify their learning for the year.

This year we will use the following:

For Reference:

For Bible Studies:

The Basics:

Konos Orderliness
Saxon Math Gevan & Jacob
Christian Light Readers (Jacob & Brennan)
Sentinel, City of Destiny (Gevan)
Classically Cursive
Sequential Spelling
Easy Grammar
Singapore Math (Brennan)

For Supplements:

We will have 36 weeks of school this year. This gives us plenty of time for breaks when needed as well as for emergencies that may come up. The way I come up with their lesson plans is to take the number of lessons in the text and divide it across a 144 day (36 weeks of 4 days each) period. Then I can get a basic idea of how many we should aim for each week.

Here are the basic plans for this year:

Math (Gevan & Jacob): 132 lessons and investigations total (I know that I have approximately 12 days where I can give them extra practice for things they may be struggling with.
Math (Brennan): 2 lessons per day on average. I do this because Brennan whizzes through most all math. (gotta love a kid who can do that! :)
Reading (Gevan): 29 chapters gives us a week for each chapter. (see my guide)
Reading (Jacob): 137 days for reading, narration, worksheets, and vocabulary.
Reading (Brennan): 125 days for reading, narration, worksheets, and vocabulary.
Spelling: 1 lesson a day.
Grammar: 2 lessons a week.
Konos: Ones lesson a day as desired.

We love Konos but we use it loosely. It is more of a launching pad to pique my boys interest than anything e;se. We will do a lesson until I see the "spark" of interest and then we focus on that subject more intensely with a unit study or lapbook. Then, once we finish exploring the subject we return tho the next lesson in Konos and go again until we get that "spark!"

I go through the next four days or week's material every Sunday and make out a plan of what we might need. Then, every morning, I write out the boys lessons for the day on an index card. This keeps them focused and gives them a sense of independence even though I am right there with them. I find doing the detailed planning in the morning gives us more freedom in case we need to take a day off due to an illness or other event.

My forms that I use:
Weekly Organizer
Lesson Plans
Daily Lesson Plan Index Cards

Integrity Academy's Bookstore

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:30:00 PDT

Container Garden

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:59:00 PDT

I am so excited about my little garden. We didn't have the opportunity this year to plant a garden outdoors but we did purchase a few pots, some organic soil, and some organic seeds and planted one indoors. I water them each morning and put them outside on our table for a few hours each day. The rest of the time they sit near our glass doors in the kitchen.

Mmmm... I love the smell of fresh herbs and even better than that... I love cooking with them!

Here is what we planted:

tomatoes
baby tomatoes
pak choi
squash
peppers
leeks
carrots
garlic
bell peppers
onion
lettuce
spinach
peas
cantaloupe
rosemary
chives
cilantro
basil
oregano
mint
dill
parsley
tarragon

It is all growing really well and I'm pleased so far. I've already used many of the herbs and cant' wait to have some veggies. I'll be even happier next year when we can expand and I can plant the lettuce and some other veggies at intervals so that it will last for a while.

What do you all do. Leave me a link to some of your gardening posts!

July Fourth Celebration

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:57:00 PDT

To celebrate the holiday we went to a July fourth celebration at the home of a friend from church. The invitation clearly stated three rules:

Bring your own drink.
Bring your own fireworks.
Bring a dish.

Ryan took care of the fireworks because mom just isn't cool enough to know what types of dangerous explosives boys want to play with. I would only come back with smoke bombs, sparklers, snap-n-pops, and water guns and somehow I don't think that would cut it. Drinks were easy: Juicy Juice for the pyromaniacs and Mountain Dew Revolution to keep mom and dad awake just in case the need for a trip to the emergency room should arise. I do have boys you know.

As far as food goes, I got a wild hair and decided to surprise the boys with pigs in a blanket, cookie dough, colored icing, AND sprinkles!! Woo Hoo! The party got started a bit early!

They thought they were gourmet chefs as they wrapped each little piece of bratwurst in crescent roll dough. They even got a bit creative and Gevan remarked how his piggy was no longer cold. (?) Brennan thought they looked more like diapers than blankets. I have to say that I somewhat agree.

Then there was the real fun. Rolling out the cookie dough, cutting out the star shapes, and mixing the icing. I think Jacob was rather proud of his sugar mustache, or um, beard, don’t you think? He sported it proudly.

Once the cookies were baked and cooled I let them abuse the poor things with obscene amounts of icing and ~~sugar~~ sprinkles. Once they were done, it was a chore to keep their little fingers out of the colorful goo. I’m thankful that their stomachs were able to hold all of the non-nutritious contents. It would have been bad for them to throw up in the pool at our friend’s house. Really bad.

The star of my night was the Venetian Pizza Roll. YUMMY. Before you even dig into it you can see the heavenly layers and smell the robust herbs steaming out from within the flaky crust. Then you bite into a little piece of heaven as you get a mouthful of gooey cheese, vibrant spinach, and robust prosciutto. The smoke flavor lingers long enough to make you crave another bite. Oh it was delightful and so easy to make. I’ll be nice and include the recipe. :)

1 can refrigerated pizza dough
1 pack (about 8 oz) Provolone cheese
7 ounces prosciutto sliced really thin
2 cups baby spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt and Italian Herbs for seasoning (to taste)

Flour your work surface and roll out the pizza dough. Brush the dough with some olive oil then layer the spinach on top. Place the prosciutto in a layer on top of the spinach. Season with salt and herbs. Layer provolone cheese across the top of that and then gently roll into a log. Bake for about 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees. Let cool completely then slice into thin pieces. Prepare your tastebuds. Enjoy!

FAIR WARNING: Kids who eat too much sugar, swim for four hours straight and then pop fireworks for two hours will usually fall fast asleep when they get home leaving mom and dad wide awake from too much Dew. Drink responsibly.

Saving Your Child's Work

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:31:00 PDT

I keep a notebook (binder) for each of my children for every school year. At the end of each season, we go through the papers and decide which ones to keep. Some are kept for portfolio reasons and some are kept for memories. The rest are recycled. The ones we choose to
keep go into the notebook under the appropriate subject.

For those that I do enjoy but not enough to keep, I take a photo of them and scrapbook them. This way I can still save them without all of the clutter.

For more great ideas on how to preserve your child's memories and hard work from homeschool, check out these great videos from professional scrapbooker and homeschool mom, Kelli Crowe:

All videos were from sessions at Heart of the Matter Online's First Annual Virtual Homeschool Conference.

Simplify Your Homeschool

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:26:00 PDT

You do not need an entire room dedicated to homeschooling. I use a closet. I store things on bookcases and crates. I make use of whatever I can find. Don’t put off organization for lack of the “perfect” place to store it. You may never have the “perfect” place.

The majority of time that is wasted is spent looking for things. We simply need to learn a new method of organization... one that works. We organize according to subject, not type.

Imagine you are planning a unit study on the middle ages. You want your children to be able to
have as much exposure to the subject as possible and you know you have tons of material that can be used – if only you could find it. You’ll have to look through all of the books to find the ones on middle ages. Then you will go through of the posters to find the diagram of a knight’s armor. Next, you’ll browse the DVDs for the documentary you bought and then you’ll look all over the house for that game about castles and knights.

All of this could have been avoided with one simple technique. “Group like subject material
together.” Why put all of the books together and all of the games together and so on when you never need all of the games at once, or all of the posters at once BUT we do need all of the middle ages stuff at one time, don’t we?

I have several subject categories that I use. Science is my largest group. I also have bible, math, history, fine arts, language arts, fine arts, social studies, and geography. When I need all of the different material that I have on the subject of Australia then I only have one place to look – on the geography shelf. This technique also prevents you from having to keep a log or inventory of all that you have because with one glance you know what you have.

Give your kids their own space and materials. My boys each have a space on a shelf that is theirs. This is where they keep the books that they need daily and also where they keep their supplies. It is easy for them to locate and put away their things. Mom should have her own space too. Store all of your teacher’s editions, lesson plan books, etc in one location.

About Us

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:39:00 PDT

We are a family of five (working on increasing that number) who live in the deep south. Three years ago, God called me to bring my boys home from the public school system. That was our life for quite a while until I felt God telling me to focus my energies on Gevan and his studies and allow the other two to return to school. After much resistance (on my part) I finally heeded to God's call. I've come to realize that there are simply different seasons in life and we have to adapt to them.

Gevan's plan for 2009 is outlined here: The Old Teacher Hat is Back Out Again!

For Jacob and Brennnan, we developed a plan that we call: co-schooling. We still wake up every morning and have bible study over breakfast. I work closely with the school and teachers so that I still have complete authority over Jacob and Brennan's education. It is our job as their parents to be sure they still get the education they need. Then, in the afternoons, we sit together and go over the lessons.

I miss them greatly during the day but I know that Gevan needs my sole attention right now. I can't wait to bring them back home though. I dont' know who enjoys homeschooling more, me or the boys! :)

I also blog at: AmyBayliss.com and I am the co-founder & co-owner of Heart of the Matter Online, A Woman Inspired Online conferences, and co-owner of Internet Cafe Devotions as well.

Gevan is persistent, loyal, driven, and a born leader. He is obsessed with all things science and I'm quite sure he will be an engineer someday (if only he will do his math.) He is 11 years old and is blind in one eye which caused him to have some learning disabilities. He has about 30 minutes of therapy each day as well as more creative lessons to meet his needs. He always works through them. He's a great kid.

Jacob has a big heart and is full of compassion. He is 9 and is a model student. He enjoys school and rarely complains about doing his work. He loves making lapbooks to show off his new found knowledge. He is a very creative and articulate child. I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be an artist or musician. He has the potential to be one of the greats! Now if I could just keep him from misplacing the art supplies then maybe he will have the opportunity to create that masterpiece!

Brennan is my child prodigy (wink)... who has yet to complete a worksheet. Yes, you read that right. This kid is 7 years old and ALL BOY. Bugs, frogs, crawfish, and worms are just some of the things that I have to banish from our house on a daily basis. He hangs upside down in chairs while reading, hops and whistles while answering math problems, and hates to write. Unless, of course, it is on a leather lazy boy with permanent marker. Yet, despite all of this, he successfully completed his 9 year old brother's state testing and finished in the 96th percentile. mmm hmmm.

Here is our mission statement:

Our purpose for homeschooling is to build a loving, faithful relationship with our children while teaching and encouraging them to develop their own relationship with Christ and giving them a foundation and a love for learning.

We believe that education should be centered around the Word of God and that learning should be a way of life. We believe in child-led learning in a structured and disciplined environment with some independent learning and also some one on one time with a parent each day.

Our goal is not to make a passing grade but to master sets of facts and skills and to learn how to find out the things they don't yet know. We also plan to teach each child according to his gifts and interests. Above all we want to remember that education is a journey and home school is just one season of that journey.

New Orleans Children's Museum

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:34:00 PDT

Over the summer, we (me & DH, my sis & BIL) loaded up the kiddos and took them to New Orleans to the Children's Museum. We had a lot of fun and as usual, the kids learned a good bit from the hands on experience offered here.

Mission Statement

inquiry@amybayliss.com (Amy Bayliss) — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 14:08:00 PDT

Here is our mission statement:

Our purpose for homeschooling is to build a loving, faithful relationship with our children while teaching and encouraging them to develop their own relationship with Christ and giving them a foundation and a love for learning.

We believe that education should be centered around the Word of God and that learning should be a way of life. We believe in child-led learning in a structured and disciplined environment with some independent learning and also some one on one time with a parent each day.

Our goal is not to make a passing grade but to master sets of facts and skills and to learn how to find out the things they don't yet know. We also plan to teach each child according to his gifts and interests. Above all we want to remember that education is a journey and home school is just one season of that journey.